As was suggested in my other topic, I'm making a topic to compare Needle and Shots, in terms of sheer killing ability and versatility. ^^

Needles are faster, but lack too much power to be better than Shots. Fact or fiction?

Fiction. While the Spread Needle is terribly weak in terms of ATP, its counterpart, the S-Rank Needle, is gifted with the ability to possess specials such as Berserk and Demon's, crushing enemy monsters. The only shots that could compare are the Baranz Launcher, which hits only four enemies to the Needle's five, and the S-Rank Shot -which can, admittedly, get the same specials.

Now the S-Rank shot can hit the same number of enemies, has higher ATP, longer range, and access to the same specials, so why would someone pick a Needle? Speed -the Needle's primary advantage. While the Shot may do more damage per hit, the damage isn't enough to make up for the Needle's speed of slaughter, even if a God/Battle is used with the Shot.

S-Rank Needle
ATP: 10
Grind: +70Total ATP after grind: 150
ATA: 40

S-Rank Shot
ATP: 10
Grind: +125Total ATP after grind: 260
ATA: 40

Unfortunately, the ATP difference amounts to right around squat when one factors in the speed of the Needle, and the fact that it's versatile in the important situations where speed is required to ensure the player isn't raped by being hit before firing.

Take, for example, the following scenario:

*Keep in mind that this is being fairly wishful on an S-Rank, to connect with each of these hits with only 40 base ATA on the weapon itself.

While the Shot could potentially kill in one less hit than a Needle (see best-case scenario, above), by the time the Shot actually gets to that hit, the Needle is at least there as well, given it's speed. If the Shot opts to take the safe rout, and do a Combo B like the Needle, it loses the advantage of killing in less hits.

Thus we are left with a weapon (Needle) that takes only half of the risk of the other weapon (Shot) while still killing at an equal or faster rate. The only advantage that the Shot is left with is its range, and it does not make up for the quicker response time of the Needle.

At least HEAD SHOT is a cooler name than DRUG NEEDLE. ^^

Disclaimer: This is by no means an article to tell players how to play. It is a statistical analysis of the pros and cons of two weapons.